Filters are used to remove undesirable particles from a gas or fluid stream. For example, air filters are used to remove undesirable or needless particles which have become blended with the air. Industries and uses for filters include cement kilns, locations with furnaces, food processing, wood working, textiles, chemical plants and process, combustion engines, foundries, coal fired power plants and the like.
There are several designs of filters with one major distinction being between a flat surfaced filter and a pleated filter. A flat filter more easily clogs, has less surface area to trap particles. Further, pleated filters can be used to make a pleated filter cartridge which, along with other advantages, has lower pressure drop than that of wound, spun, melt blown or resin bonded designs. However, not all filter media is suitable to be pleated. To overcome this problem, some attempts have been made to produce a pleatable non-woven fabric such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,811. However, this reference attempts to thermally compressively bond the layers to form the filter media. By its own admissions, this reference states that “delamination is liable to occur at the center of the thickness.” To overcome this issue, this reference states that it thermally compressively bonds layers to provide for a plurality of compressively bonded portions dotted by embossing. However, this reference does not provide for a homogeneous filter media, rather it provides provide one of several layers.
In certain manufacturing and other environments, particles in the air can be of sufficient particle size and proper combination to provide an undesirable combustive environment. Coal, sawdust, sugar, pollen, flour and other “dust” can ignite creating explosions resulting from very small particles with a high surface area to volume ratio (thereby making the collective or combined surface area of all the particles very large in comparison to a dust of larger particles) combine with air to create an explosive environment. Generally, dust is defined as powders with particles less than about 500 micrometers μm in diameter, but finer dust will present a much greater hazard than coarse particles by virtue of the larger total surface area of all the particles.
Dusts have a very large surface area compared to their mass. Since burning can only occur at the surface of a solid or liquid, where it can react with oxygen, this causes dusts to be much more flammable than bulk materials. For example, a 1 kg sphere of a material with a density of 1 g/cm3 would be about 27 cm across and have a surface area of 0.3 m2. However, if it was broken up into spherical dust particles 50 μm in diameter (about the size of flour particle), the surface area would increase dramatically such as to 1600 m2 in one embodiment.
This greatly increased surface area allows the material to burn much faster, and the extremely small mass of each particle allows it to catch on fire with much less energy than the bulk material, as there is no heat loss to conduction within the material. When this mixture of fuel and air is ignited, especially in a confined space such as a filtration baghouse, warehouse or silo, a significant increase in pressure is created, often more than sufficient to demolish the structure. Even materials that are traditionally thought of as non-flammable, such as aluminum or iron, or slow burning, such as wood, can produce a powerful explosion when finely divided, and can be ignited by even a small spark. Such metal powders are widely used in fireworks for their dramatic effects.
Below a certain value, the lower explosive limit (LEL), there is simply insufficient dust to support the combustion at the rate required for an explosion. It has been determined that a number that is 20% lower than the LEL is considered safe. Similarly, if the fuel/air ratio increases above the upper explosive limit, there is insufficient oxidant to permit combustion to continue at the necessary rate. It is advantageous to prevent dust from reaching sufficient concentrations to avoid explosions.
For the explosion to occur, there has to be an ignition source. For example, static electricity is a major cause of fires and explosions in many industries. The hazard of electrostatic spark ignition of flammable vapor can be minimized by taking actions to limit the accumulation of electrostatic charges to safe values. Of primary importance is the proper bonding and grounding of equipment and containers. However, dust filtration, pollution-control filters, because of their large surface area, can generate as much as 200 times the electrostatic charge generated in the same piping system without filtration. Additionally, filters with conductive properties can be used to dissipate static electricity to reduce the ignition source for fires and explosions.
For example, United States Patent Application Publication 2011/0265312 is directed to a filter medium with improved conductivity. However, this reference uses a conductive coating which is disposed on the filtration substrate using a variety of techniques. For example, in one embodiment, the filtration substrate can be saturated with the conductive coating. In another embodiment, the conductive coating can be painted or extruded onto the filtration substrate. In another embodiment, the filter media can include a bonding agent that bonds the conductive coating to the filtration substrate. The bonding agent can be formed from, for example, a polymer such as polyvinylidene chloride, acrylic latex, polyurethane dispersion, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol, and combinations thereof. The bonding agent can also optionally be conductive. Each of these methods requires a process to add material to the underlying filter substrate. Further, the coating is just that, a coating, and can be worn off or otherwise separated from the filer substrate undermining the utility of this reference.
Another attempt to create a conductive filter is described in United States Patent Application Publication 2008/0230464 which includes a textile substrate (with a defined first side and a second side and a machine and cross-machine direction), where the conductive pattern on the first side is in registration with the conductive pattern on the second side of the textile substrate. However, this reference is limited to the use of two conductive patterns that must have a continuous conductive pathway between the two patterns and across the textile substrate.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a homogeneous pleatable filter media.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a conductive homogeneous pleatable filter media with improved filtering efficiency and air permeability.